Towards the design of an effective SCI-Bike

Handbikes (HB) are a new type of bicycle for disabled people. This vehicle has three wheels and the pedalling movement is made by the arms instead of the legs. The first pure sports equipment was developed in 1999 in the USA and its particular performance motivates wheelchair drivers to look at cycling. Nowadays, the HB is not only a new sport with many competitions all over the world, but also a great opportunity for all disabled people to do sport and movement and still perform a riding activity. Technological advancements have since opened up the sport to a wider range of athletes; as a result, it is now the third largest sport on the Paralympic programme. H1–H4 are the categories where athletes use a handbike. Until now, there are very few works in literature about this new kind of vehicle and their athletes. Generally HB races are performed on street circuit and the drivers are affected by high level of stress. This paper deals with the preliminary research of a special project on the design and realization of innovative cycling road devices which aim to improve both comfort and performance of a spinal cord injured athlete. The first step along the research path is devoted to the design of an instrumented HB allowing to acquire or to estimate mechanical and physiological measurements in both indoor and outdoor performances